Opinion: The real meaning behind Burna Boy’s ‘Another Story’ Song

Burna Boy’s highly anticipated album “African Giant” was met with rave reviews with a lot of people praising the star for his lyrical content and inspiring afro beats. But perhaps the most highlighted track on the album was the song “Another Story”. This song sparked an internet debate on the reality of most Nigerian youths knowing absolutely nothing about their history.

In fact, for a lot of Nigerian youths, the most they know about the birth of Nigeria is that in 1914, Lord Lugard amalgamated the two Nigerian protectorates to form a single Colony, Nigeria and also that in 1960, Nigeria gained Independence. If we do not know our history as a people then we are lost. Many youths, like myself, discovered- from this song- the existence of a company called the Royal Niger Company.

For many including myself, it was the first time they would ever hear that such a company-pivotal in the formation of what we now call Nigeria- ever existed. It sparked a lot of questions and as usual, my curiosity got the better of me and I dug into it to find out the truth. What is Nigeria? How exactly did a country filled with diverse tribes and ethnic groups become loopholed into one singularity? How did this multi-lingual, multi-cultural country become one?

The answer is not some grandiose gesture of loyalty, love and oneness instead it’s a story of greed, colonialism, and ignorance. What is the Royal Niger Company and what role did they play in the formation of the country that we call Nigeria? And where is the Royal Niger Company now?

Briefly, I would try to give a timeline of the events that would lead to the formation of this dysfunctional entity called Nigeria. After years of British invasion and enslavement of Black African natives, In the 1850s, there was a treaty between Great Britain and Lagos to abolish and outlaw slavery and this ushered a new period in the history of Lagos.

Nigeria is a country rich with natural resources and agriculture and of course this further made the country of great interest to the British. As with all colonizers who seek to plunder and exploit, in 1879, A British Businessman named George Goldie formed the United African Company and took over the Lower Niger River in order to monopolize the oil palm trade and give the British an upper hand against the French and German.

In a clear violation of the treaties he signed with the less-informed chiefs, Goldie started to explore more land outside the coastal areas that he was supposed to stay in. George Goldie was a dubious man and he deceived chiefs like Jaja of Opobo into signing agreements that gave the company exclusive rights to export palm oil. They were able to subdue all the prominent oil merchants of the Niger Delta.

In 1886, The United African Company was granted a charter that authorized the company to oversee the Niger Delta and the lands around the Benue and Niger rivers and the name changed to Royal Niger Company. In 1887, when Jaja of Opobo tried to export his own palm oil, he was accused of obstructing commerce and sent into exile but in 1891 when he was to return, he died suspiciously from drinking poisoned tea.

His death made the Native chiefs wary of the Royal Niger Company but by now the company already dictated who the natives could trade with and they had monopolized the entire oil palm trade. In 1895, Koko Mingi VIII of Nembe- one of the chiefs who abhorred the monopolization by the British- made an alliance with the states of Bonny and Okpoma to take down the company.

Although Bonny refused the alliance, Koko Mingi VIII still led an attack on the Royal Niger Company headquarters at Akasa in Bayelsa. The attack- popularly known as The Brass War- led to 60 white men being captured and forty lost their lives. The British royal navy attacked Brass and fined them for 500 pounds. King Koko was devastated by the way the events turned out and committed suicide in 1898 as an outlaw.

In 1899, Great Britain revoked the Royal Niger company’s charter and as a result, the company had to hand over its entire territory (Lands around The Benue and Niger Rivers which make up what we call Nigeria today) to the British Government for 865000 pounds which is 108 million pounds today. In 1900, the territories that the company controlled became the Southern Nigeria Protectorate and Northern Nigeria Protectorate.

At this point, there were three separate administrative blocks that made up the country Nigeria. The Northern Protectorate, The Southern (Niger Delta) Protectorates, and the Lagos Colony. In 1906, the Lagos colony was amalgamated with The Southern Nigerian Protectorate (Niger Coast Protectorate). So what happened in 1914? In 1914, Lord Lugard joined the Northern and Southern Protectorates to become one Nation under a singular name – Nigeria- in order to reduce the administrative burden on the British.

So what are we celebrating today? In 1960, Nigeria was given back to Nigerians and It was no longer “ruled” by the British. It’s been 59 years and when I look back I ask myself if we have truly gained independence? Nigeria is not one country because the different African kingdoms/ empires that originally inhabited where we call Nigeria decided to come together, no we aren’t.

We are one Nation because a few British men decided that our unity would be of advantage to them and they would be able to capitalize greatly on our farce unity. Nigeria was a business deal tossed to and fro by greedy businessmen and 59 years later, our country is still a profitable business to our leaders. You would think that tilting the goblet of power back to Nigerians would make things better but years later, the greedy businessmen and politicians are still exploiting the people.

Monopolizing different sectors and eating a huge chunk of the “National Cake” What was once a promising nation is now a laughing stock. We had great promise, what went wrong? I might go spiritual here, it has been said that if the foundation is destroyed, what can the righteous do. The foundation of this country is shaky, it was built by greed and corruption and years later it’s still the same story.

As we celebrate Independence, I and a lot of youths wonder if this country was meant to be at all. I can’t help but feel that this country is a failed experiment and it’s too late to go back. I believe we were never supposed to be one nation. We thrived on our own before the British invasion. There was the Benin Kingdom, The Fulani empire, the kanem \Bornu empire, the Oyo empire, The Warri kingdom, The Ibibio Kingdom, to mention a few.

All of these civilizations thrived independently and coexisted peacefully until the British came and decided as a result of their greed to unite all these independent diverse and unique cultures as one singular entity. The decision was not made by Nigerians, it was made by our colonizers and in a pretentious ceremony in 1960, we believed that power had been handed back to us but the reality is that the damage had already been done.

Where are the great empires now? Where are the great Kingdoms now? Where is the great country? Where is the one Nigeria? And what of the Royal Niger company? Well, to my surprise, it is still very much in Nigeria, as it came under the control of Unilever. Unilever is a popular company in Nigeria and they are manufacturers of products like Knorr, Lipton, Lux, and Omo to mention a few brands and as of 2017, they made a revenue of over 90 billion Naira.

It’s 2019, Nigeria celebrates her 59th year of independence and honestly, we were better off in the ’60s and ’70s. Nigeria is that friend that you know has great talent and mad prospects but somehow still ends up making all the bad decisions that force him to be mediocre. I can’t bring myself to be happy about our independence when a country like China who got its independence in 1949 is light years away from us in terms of technological advancements and a thriving economy. So Nigerians, What are we really celebrating?